Lead On (Complete)

~ Chapter 9 ~

Her hands rested on the arms that were holding her and her thoughts were spinning around and around. She knew better than this, but hell if she could fight the want and desire for the one man who had always held her heart. Time and distance hadn't changed that, although she had always hoped it would. She let out a soft moan, her body moving of its own accord and pressed against his, his hard planes against her soft ones made her mind spin even more. And she knew that her mother was right; Jeff was bad news for her. But them talking and sharing a few kisses didn't mean he wanted her back, right?

Her hands ran up his arms and circled around his neck as his arms wrapped her waist, pulling her flush against him. His tongue snaked out and quickly meet with hers and the kiss shot up in fireworks. And as far back as she could recall, no kiss had ever tasted this good or this amazing. And she had always felt that Jeff was a damn good kisser, now even better than before.

Before she knew it, that thought and the one that followed, which was how did he get better, quickly woke her up and she broke the kiss. She was curious how many women there had been between her and now. He had to have had quite a few by how much better he had gotten. And as she pulled back, his eyes stayed locked on her.

"Wow, Rose, your kisses have the power to undo me, but that is nothing new."

"I guess not. But you sure have gotten better. Wonder how that was possible." She didn't mean to put the snarky tone in her comment but it did come through. However, before Jeff could say anything, Jimmy rounded the corner that they were hiding in.

"Talk about like old times here, I'm still stuck coming to find you and scold you for making out. Come on you two, food is ready." Rose ran a hand down her face, hoping it wasn't too noticeable what they had been up to.

"We'll be right there," Jeff told him, waving his hand for Jimmy to leave. But Rose had no reason to stay and talk, or kiss for that matter.

"No worries Jimmy, we are on our way," she said, glancing at Jeff then turned and followed Jimmy. She could feel the eyes digging into her back, but she refused to acknowledge it or him. She needed to remember that he ditched her, that he told her she wasn't enough and he was the one who high tailed it back to Austin. Yes, she might have been the one to file for divorce, but it wasn't like he fought really hard for her either.

She grabbed her plate and the stuff to start making her burger then piled the rest of the plate with chips and some potato salad and grabbed a cold beer on the way to one of the seats. And she was grateful that Anna quickly took the seat to the left of her. But the pleasure was short lived as Jeff sat his plate down to the right of hers. She just had to get through dinner and she could leave and forget about that kiss.

"Rose?" She looked up as Jimmy called her name.

"What?"

"Do you remember Mrs. Martin, the senior English teacher?"

"Could anyone forget her?" The group of friends shared a laugh and Rose shrugged. "What about her Jimmy?"

"You know she moved to Houston after her husband passed away, well word down here is she finally passed too. I remember she was one of your favorite teachers." Rose quickly ate a bite of her burger, trying not to laugh. Not over the fact that their past teacher and passed away but because of the old woman being a favorite of hers, which was not the case.

"You hated her," Jeff tossed out, taking a drink from his beer as he looked at Rose, who was dying of laughter now. She finally coughed down her food and looked between the two guys.

"I did, but I always told Jimmy I loved her. See, I would know when Jimmy was ditching and who with since Jimmy always told me. The first day he asked me to cover for him, I told him that Mrs. Martin loved me and I loved her, that she would believe anything I said. Jimmy thought I was covering when I wasn't." At that, Jeff narrowed his eyes, knowing the truth, but Jimmy didn't, and she couldn't help but laugh again.

"I don't get it," Jimmy said, looking between the two.

"Asshole, she never covered for you! She would tell her where you were so her and I could sneak off. All these years and you never questioned how your ass kept getting in trouble?" Jeff finally joined in on Rose's laughter.

"Now you tell me?" Jimmy said, tossing a chip Rose's way. "I thought you had my back?"

"I did, but I wasn't going to give up my time by covering for you." Jimmy rolled his eyes at that.

"You two were so bad. I have no clue how you all didn't get in trouble with all the PDA you had going on during school hours."

"Oh no," Joanna piped up, "they got in trouble quite a bit; I'd see them in the front office all the time while I volunteered in there. But after so long, everyone just gave up and left them to it. So long as nothing indecent ever came out, you know what I mean?" Rose tilted her head as she looked at Joanna, who only looked back.

"I wasn't aware that our relationship was any of your business."

"As much then as it is now when you put it out there for anyone to see. You guys never kept much behind closed doors and it looks like much hasn't changed."

"I suppose you might be right, Joanne, but you know, when you are with someone you love and someone you find so incredibly sexy, it's rather hard not to express to everyone who is fucking nosy how much you want to be with that person," Jeff told her as he rested his arm on the back of Rose's chair.

"Lay off them Joanne, we all know you were jealous and pissed that no one gave you the time of day," Jimmy said. Rose gave him a soft smile of thanks.

"I'm sorry to cut this short, but I have to work tomorrow so I better be going," Rose announced as she stood up.

"Dessert?"

"Thanks Anna, but you can bring me some later." Rose knew this was a mistake coming tonight.

"Are you sure?" Rose smiled at Anna and nodded in response to her question.

"Swing by the diner with some stuff, I promise it won't go to waste." Rose looked around the table and waved her goodbyes before walking out to her car, Jeff following behind her and she sighed. She really didn't need to deal with him any more tonight. In truth, he was a good part of the reason she was leaving anyway. "What Jeff?" she asked as she opened the door and climbed in.

"I'm making sure you get out okay, is that so wrong?"

"No," she muttered, quickly sliding her key into the ignition switch and turned it, but getting nothing from the car. She frowned and did it again, getting nothing yet again. "Shit," she cried, resting her head against the steering wheel.

"Come on Rose, you can leave the car and I'll check it tomorrow. Tonight I can take you home and pick you up for work." Rose wanted to cry; she wanted to escape her ex husband and yet, she had the long drive back to her place with him.